Senior Associate Director, Financial Communications (Private Capital)

Senior Associate Director, Financial Communications (Private Capital)

We are seeking a Senior Associate Director to help grow APCO's Financial Communications work with private capital clients across asset classes, including private equity, private credit, infrastructure and real assets, as well as supporting their portfolio companies. This is a senior client-facing role for a sophisticated operator who serves as a primary counselor to private investment firms, IR teams, and portfolio company leadership across the full lifecycle of private markets activity, from fundraising and platform investments through bolt-ons, value creation, and exits.

The work moves quickly, the stakes are high, and the situations are often material and non-public. We're looking for someone with sharp advisory and consulting instincts, a bias for action, and the judgment to give the right counsel under real time pressure.

This position can be based in APCO's New York, Washington D.C., Chicago or Raleigh office.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a senior client lead and trusted counselor to private capital clients, including GPs, CCOs, IR leads, and portfolio company CEOs and CFOs
• Brings strong advisory and consulting instincts to the work, pattern-matches across situations, frames decisions clearly, and gives senior clients counsel they can act on, not just options to consider
• Operates with a bias for action in fast-moving, high-stakes situations where decisions are often made in hours, not days
• Quarterbacks integrated, multi-disciplinary teams across communications, public affairs, regulatory, crisis, and digital workstreams to deliver one cohesive answer to the client
• Develops and executes communications strategies across the private markets lifecycle: firm positioning and brand building, fund launches and final closes, platform acquisitions, add-on transactions, recapitalizations, exits and IPOs of portfolio companies, LP communications support, and ESG/responsible investing narratives
• Leads media strategy and execution with top-tier business/financial media and key industry trade and sector press
• Counsels clients through sensitive moments including activist campaigns, take-privates, contested transactions, regulatory inquiries, portfolio company crises, and reputational issues that touch private capital brands
• Partners with APCO's public affairs, regulatory, and crisis colleagues to bring integrated counsel on policy and political dynamics affecting private capital
• Provides on-site support during transactions, roadshows, contested situations, or other material events
• Drives new business across the private capital ecosystem, including RFP responses, pitches, and proactive prospecting; cultivates relationships that translate into mandates
• Builds and mentors team members staffed to private capital accounts; helps shape the practice's growth trajectory and go-to-market strategy
• Maintains a sophisticated understanding of fundraising dynamics, deal flow, private capital strategies, investor sentiment, and the regulatory backdrop

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university in a related field. Graduate degree preferred.
• 8–12 years of relevant experience in financial communications, with substantial direct experience advising private capital firms, and/or their portfolio companies. Agency, in-house sponsor communications/IR, or business journalism transitioning into communications all considered.
• Strong advisory and consulting instincts; track record of being a trusted counselor to senior clients, not just an executor
• Bias for action and demonstrated composure under time pressure in high-stakes, often material non-public situations
• Established and actively maintained relationships with senior reporters and editors covering private markets, M&A, and capital markets at top-tier outlets
• Direct experience supporting at least several of the following: fund launches, platform deals, exits, take-privates, portfolio company IPOs, activist defense, restructurings, executive transitions, regulatory matters, and sensitive crisis situations
• Demonstrated ability to bring or build a book of business; track record of generating new mandates within the private capital ecosystem strongly preferred
• Sophisticated understanding of GP/LP dynamics, fund structures, deal mechanics, and sponsor reputational drivers
• Experience quarterbacking integrated, multi-disciplinary teams across communications, public affairs, regulatory, and digital workstreams
• Cross-border experience advising clients across U.S., U.K., and EU disclosure regimes and media markets is a strong plus
• Sector expertise is a plus, with particular interest in candidates who have advised clients across defense, technology, financial services, healthcare, industrials, or energy and infrastructure
• Fluency with the policy and regulatory backdrop shaping private capital (SEC private fund rules, CFIUS, antitrust, tax, ESG/SFDR) is a strong plus
• Comfort serving as a senior client lead in high-stakes, fast-moving situations and counseling sponsor leadership directly
• Willingness to travel as client situations require, including roadshows, on-site portfolio company support, and time in client offices for sensitive moments
• References should be able to speak to your discretion in handling material non-public information and pre-announcement transaction work
• Exceptional writing, analytical, and presentation skills
• Detail-oriented, responsive to a rapidly changing environment, able to manage multiple complex projects under tight deadlines, a self-starter who takes initiative and sets priorities
• Discretion and judgment appropriate to handling material non-public information
• Entrepreneurial spirit and collaborative team player

What Sets APCO's Financial Communications Practice Apart

• A strategic partner through the entire corporate and deal lifecycle. From IPOs and M&A to shareholder activism, restructurings, and financial litigation, we advise companies, investors, and institutions in the moments that matter most. Our experience spans legal, media, political, financial, and regulatory domains, giving us the agility and precision to manage sensitive, high-stakes situations.
• Integrated capabilities that go beyond traditional financial PR. Our work is backed by APCO's leadership in crisis and risk management, government affairs, regulatory, brand and digital strategy, ESG, and transformation consulting. Our acquisitions of Camarco and Gagen MacDonald deepen our C-suite advisory, capital markets counsel, and change management expertise, so clients get one integrated answer across communications, policy, and people.
• Real connectivity between Wall Street and Washington. Our public affairs heritage and bench of former regulators, policy advisors, and campaign strategists means we bring sophisticated counsel at a time when policy and regulation — CFIUS, antitrust, tax, SEC rules, and the politicization of capital — are shaping financial outcomes more than ever.
• Global reach with local impact. With professionals across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and MENA, we deliver local insights with global coordination. Our team includes former financial journalists, bankers, fund managers, equity sales professionals, sell-side analysts, regulators, policy advisors, and campaign strategists — a multidisciplinary bench built for dynamic environments.

Compensation Range

The US base salary for this position ranges from $171,000/year to $202,000/year. Our compensation range for this role is inclusive of several US geographic markets. APCO targets an employee's pay within this range to be based on several factors, which include but are not limited to relevant education, skills, job-related knowledge, qualifications, work experience, credentials, internal equity and/or geographic location.

Careers at APCO

Through our recruitment, hiring and retention efforts, APCO is committed to building teams who bring the best possible expertise and robust perspectives to our clients. We embrace differences in experience, viewpoint and ideas, starting with our values and extending to our behaviors, policies and practices. We aim to create a positive work experience and welcoming environment where everyone feels they belong and can thrive.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourage applications from all qualified candidates regardless of race, national origin, citizenship, native language, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, religion, age, veteran status, neurodivergence, mental or physical disability, medical history, pregnancy, political belief or affiliation or any other characteristic protected by law.

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